Clutter fix

Everyone's got some spot of their home that gets cluttered. Whether it's a drawer in the kitchen, a closet down the hall, or like us the whole backyard!
This has been our backyard for the last 3 months. Yard tools strewn about, and pool toys laying around.



Mainly we have this problem because we have a 2 car garage, and WAY too many toys that go in it.
So we decided to remedy some of the overflow with a garden shed. We picked up a very well priced metal shed from Home Depot, USA made, which is great, only we had to actually assemble it!


Not really a problem, since we have plenty of DIY skills, but it was one of the hottest weekends of the summer and this shed had about 10,000 screws to put in.
I am smiling here, but I am still on my coffee high.


We finished it after two half days of work, stuck it in our perfect spot for it on the back side of the house, and promptly filled it with all of our tools for the garden.


(Baxter thinks it's a giant dog house)



And now for something completely different. Well it's still garden related, but look how pretty!
This is the beginning of a new hydrangea bloom, I am super excited to see if it opens up blue, because it's supposed to.



I bought 2 hydrangeas this July for our Fire pit install and backyard face lift. One was blue, and one was white.

Since then my blue bloom died, and now has a new one about to open, and my white hydrangea turned pink then the green!!
Here is a bloom from the white plant, you can see a hint of purple/pink to the centers of each flower.


WTH? I love the green older blooms, but the in between pink blush is not my favorite. I really had no idea they would morph like this, I think its a pretty cool surprise.

Let there be Fire!

This was what the corner of our back yard looked like 2 days ago. It was pretty much like this when we moved in. I added the bottles hanging from the tree and stained the fence last summer.



But it's been a pretty useless space for us. We just never feel like sitting over there when we have a great patio table under the shade.


So we decided to put something out there that would be useful to the space. We didn't need another table and chairs so we thought why not a fire pit!? We figure it will be great on summer evenings with some smores, and friends. Also we may buy or make a BBQ grill top for it so we can use it as a oak pit BBQ on occasion.
Here is Mr. B lighting the first fire in it last night.


The stones for our new fire pit are manufactured concrete stones that are made locally. They stack like a breeze and even dry stacked is really stable. We opted to not mortar them, so it went together in a half an hour.


We also picked up a couple of raw wood Adirondack chairs from Home Depot, we primed and painted them blue with some extra paint I had from a guest house project.


Let me tell you, Adirondack chairs are the most comfy chair to "chill" in ever.


That tall birdhouse in the back I picked up at our local town's annual day fair/my birthday. It was a great deal and handmade as you can see. We may mount it up higher so a bird could safely nest in it.



We used the extra flagstone that we took out of the center to make a pathway. Honestly this was the hardest work we did for the whole project. It took a lot of back pain and shoveling to removed those patches of lawn nicely so we could replant them elsewhere (where our lawn has died) and to set the flagstone flush with the grass.
It's super convenient though and we are glad we took the time to do it right.



Mr. Piggy got moved from my potting cart, to the corner "chill spot" (that's what I'm calling it) because he is blue and fun and just goes!



Speaking of blue...this is my favorite part. We went out and bought two hydrangea plants for our yard. I LOVE hydrangeas they are one of my favorite flowers and for years I thought they didn't even grow here. Well I was wrong. The first spring we lived in our new home I started seeing them in our neighborhood, and they looked very happy in these people's yards. Then this spring I saw them come up again, even our crazy lady's yard next door had them, and she never waters her dirt/front lawn!

So I thought I can do that!!! We bought a 5 gallon white (swoon) and a 1 gallon blue! Love.
Wish me lots of green thumb luck. I may need it.




Over all it is a great up grade. Not free but really no too bad cost wise. Mostly labor intensive, that's the best kind of upgrade.

We're having a heat wave...

..A tropical heat wave!
Oh man today was a doosie. It was a whopping 91 degrees at our casa, and did I mention its March? The week before this little heat wave we had rain storms and snow on the mountain, and it averaged in the low 60's. The heat + previous rain really has things popping up too. Like my fringed tulips that surprised me for the first time last year. From just 3 we now have 5!





Our lawn has also recently developed a bit of a weed problem, the spring time and warmth helped them to multiply and one section of the backyard was about 99% dandelions. I spent about 40 mins pulling those little nasty lawn squatters out. I filled my weeding bucket up 5 times, and we still have more.
This tool is pretty much the best thing ever for digging up a weed and its entire root. We got ours at Home Depot and I'll tell you we pretty much need two. Mr. B and I had contests last year seeing who could pull the most weeds in our spare time after work. I know pretty lame huh? But there is something satisfying about getting the whole thing out, almost like you are the winner in an odd game of Man vs Weed.

Life with plants

Indoor plants certainly add a vibrancy and joy to a home, but getting them to stay happy has never been my forté.
I have had a black thumb (Urban dictionary: A wannabe gardener who kills plants, opposite of a green thumb) my whole life. I want to change that so instead of avoiding plants I am submerging myself in them, making it my goal to keep all of them or at least most of them alive indoors.
As of today we have 8 indoor potted plants, I took a photo inventory of them to share and to see with luck if they would look the same in a few months. I have had a few of them for a while now but most of these are brand new, due to all the great hardware store sales they are having lately I bought some last week and today our local store was 20% off of everything! So I bought a few more challenges to add to our home.

Maidenhair Ferns
These two beauties are a plant that I have been coveting for months now. At just a couple bucks a piece today I couldn't pass up the chance, and if they don't make it I won't feel too bad, after all they are ferns. I haven't had luck with a fern in... um ever!


Keeping them in this frosted window and in the bathroom off our laundry room might be their only chance of survival. Humidity is supposed to be their friend, so here goes nothing. Aren't they beautiful though?


Zebra Haworthia
These aloe like little succulents grow great indoors and don't need quite as much direct sun as a lot of other succulents do. I got the one on the right about 2 weeks ago, and picked up the blooming one today. I didn't even know they bloomed!


Check out the tiny and odd little white flowers on this Zebra plant.



Giant Bird of Paradise
Although beautiful with just the leaves the flowers of bird of paradise is one of my favorites. Sadly my plant will probably never bloom indoors and its too cold here in the winter to plant it outside. I am happy to say I have had this plant over a year and its doing well.



ZZ plant
These Zamioculcas plants are supposed to be "idiot proof" indoor plants, I got it about a month ago from my mom and lets hope that what they say is true and it stays around. I just love the hardy and shiny green leaves.



Bromeliad
I love these and even if 3 years ago I successfully murdered one just like it, I plan to keep this one around at least for a bit. It was only $3 at home depot and SO beautiful. I love the color it brings into the house.




Snake Plant
Or what I like to call, Old Faithful. Also known as Mother in-laws tongue. This plant is great, it is happy no matter where I put it in the house, it grows. I can't kill it, not that I would want to.
It was the perfect gift from my mother in law to a beginner over a year and half ago. I am calling this one a success, which may sound premature at only a year and half, but in black thumb years that like decades.



Outside I also have some fun stuff to share. This succulent has been sending off these shoots with little blooms on it for weeks.




And I finally got tired of buying the same herbs at the grocery store for cooking and planted my own. Here I just planted sage, cilantro, and basil. I have also been growing thyme, mint and rosemary for a while.



Baxter also got a little treat from today's sale, a new toy for him to dismantle. Its his favorite pass time, besides eating.


I hope this encourages more plant killers like me to try at it again. I went a long time without plants and I now feel confidant to try it again with new ones. If there are any indoor plants that you have had great luck with please share them with me... just in case some of the ones above don't make it!

Labor day weekend was just that

We spent the last two days laboring outside in our backyard. It was hot out and a ton of work but we had a blast working together and rewarded ourselves with a great looking backyard and some treats afterward.

Here is a photo of the right side fence in back from a couple months ago. We took the pool cover out in June, I painted (almost) the whole fence last week, we ripped out the weeds and gnarly rose bushes, and this weekend we dug and dug and planted 4 fairly mature 10 foot queen palms and 5 flax plants.


After! You can't see the flax plants in this shot as they are quite small at the moment. They should grow pretty quickly and add a good amout of color.





We plan to line the edge of the plant bed and the lawn with natural sandstone rocks.




After our 2 days of manual labor we felt like a treat or two. I whipped up a couple Piña Coladas as we were wrapping up the job site and took a dip in our pool. I may have even hung out in the hammock for a minute.


Then!! We went crazy and made these outrageously delish burgers. On fresh organic brioche buns, with organic beef, tomatoes, lettuce, avo, grilled onions and pickle. They were so fresh and decadent, no need for a side. They were a couple of monsters, just what we needed as we worked up quite an appetite.

We fixed up the pool area

We were inspired by the heat wave that the first weekend of June brought us. With summer here and our bathroom project pretty much done we decided to clean up the patio and pool. First thing we did was brave the 90 degree weather and sun and sweated our way through removing the non working and ripped pool cover and it's ugly red wooden case from around the diving board.
In this photo you can see it before, the pool cover & motor are hidden under the red colored large bench like thing around our diving board. We also took out the tracks that run all along the edge of the pool. I can't tell you how many times I tripped on those things.


Without enormous pool cover box. Yeah! Now to the dump we go.


Oh, I also had this large white board that I've been storing in my art room. I cleaned the whole room out today (its been our tile supply room for the last few months) and decided to hang it on the wall outside and give the back patio more of a beachy feel. A bit of paint and a few minutes later, homemade sign. I love it, anything to remind me of Mexico, sigh...

Lady Bank's

Look at the size of it! This yellow Lady Bank's rose has grown completely over a tree. This is the first time we have seen it in bloom, and it is huge! It's the size of a small planet, and it's pretty spectacular.
We are busy redoing the texture on every wall in the bathroom, and the ceiling. Hopefully we'll be done by tomorrow night.

A fragrant day

The smells from the wisteria blooms are wonderful this time of year. We enjoy them at work all day as our office is under a massive over hang of them. This year we have our very own wisteria that will some day have it's own trellis to wrap around and grow. It's just beautiful.
The plants around the pool have sprung up a few new visitors, I can't wait till they open.


As I write this blog post, the house is filling up with the excellent smell of "Mama One's" meatloaf! Oh, Rory and I can't wait for that, it most certainly is a favorite of ours, and it's been too long since I've made it.

Here is a sneak peak of something I've been working on on my free time, which seems like never. Inspired by our love for coffee, my love for craftiness and also my new love for decorating I have been working with yards of fabulous Russian linen and fabric inks to replicate these cool burlap coffee sacks to use as decor around our living room. I'll post them when I'm all done.


The progress on the bathroom is minimal today. Rory did get to hang a few pieces of hardie backer in the shower after work, but now it's time to eat!